RN319 - Article in the "Hampshire Life" Magazine - "Full steam ahead"
Credits due to Hampshire life magazine, Eddie Neylon and Emma Caulton.
For more information on the magazine email
Railway Heritage
RN320 - A letter from Hannes Paling with some fabulous achive images of NG4 models
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From: Hannes Paling
Sent: 29 January 2007 20:18 To: Joanne West Subject: Sandstone NG4 Hi Joanne I had a call from Charles Viljoen tonight regarding the number plates for the NG 4. I went through my collection of pictures and found some items on the NG 4, he sugested I send it to you as it could be of interest to Mr Mole. Pictures attached, some including a bit of history on your engine No 16 came out of an old magazine, the other pictures are scans of black and white pictures I have, photographer unknown. Best regards Hannes |
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RN321 - Excellent archive photographs of the NG4 as supplied by Errol Ashwell taken by Ernst Gysel in 1927
RN322 - A rehabilitated old creosote wagon
Our hardworking team at the Hoekfontein Workshops have rehabilitated an old creosote wagon.
There are two digits missing from the number - they will be added shortly.
There are two digits missing from the number - they will be added shortly.
RN323 - February issue of Heritage Railway Magazine - African Arrival marks start of Beaulieu Railway Scheme
RN324 - Narrow Gauge article from Family, Radio & Tv Magazine, July 1977
Credits to Family, Radio & TV Magazine, 11-17 July, 1977
In the 11-17 July edition of Family, Radio & TV dated 1977 an interesting article appeared on steam on the narrow gauge line. There is nothing more genuine or more accurate than articles written during the heyday of narrow gauge when it was doing the job it was designed to do. The fact that we continue to rescue and restore these locomotives is all the more reassuring when one studies their fine history and the contribution they made to the rural communities.
RN325- Our 19D has the Bloemfontein team's full attention
Now that the NG4 is out of the Bloemfontein workshops, Lukas and his team have turned their attention to our 19D, No. 2654. They had to remove a few small tubes by sending in the cleaners.
RN326 - STOP PRESS... The NG4 arrives at Sandstone
RN327 - Weekly report by Derick van Zyl - 19th - 26th January 2007
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Henry went down to Port Shepstone to collect another Garratt Unit, and is now back at the farm and busy on the BSA rail car.
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I Completed NGG16 no.153 axle boxes, the wool and oil needed replacing. We steamed the No. 153 for a train trip to shunt one of the Port Shepstone Garratts from Vailima to the main workshop.
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| Benny repaired wagon 3759. It now has a new vacuum pipe and a brand new number… wagon no. 2968. |
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| Henk has been busy to put the right whistle on Little Bess and drove one of the Garratts for the train trip. |
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| Petrus cleaned all the ash pits and helped unload the Port Shepstone Garratt at Vailima. |
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| Oupa has been busy cleaning between the sheds and helping Ben repair wagon No.3759. |
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| The Sandstone Steam Team have been offloading the new O&K at Vailima and dealing with joining the Port Shepstone Garratt together at Vailima. |
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RN328 - It is NG4 week... the NG4 is a very special locomotive
We normally do not get that excited when we resurrect a locomotive from a near derelict condition, but it is beginning to dawn on us that the NG4 is a very special locomotive. There has been more reaction to its restoration from around the world than for any one of the many locos that we have restored. Not only that the quality of the response and the amount of detail that accompanies it has been truly amazing.
A good example is the attached from Mr. Gysel of Switzerland, who not only has intimate knowledge of this loco's background but has some classic archive photos to support his knowledge and interest.
"Dear Mrs Molyneux-Killik,
yesterday I was visiting the home page of the SANDSTONE-ESTATES once again. Then I was very suprised to find some pictures, which I already knew. You have two pictures supplied by Errol Ashwell, which shows an NG 4. These pictures I know already because they are part of a family album. This because the photographer was the brother of my great-grandfather. His name was Ernst Gysel (not Geysel) born 1882 in Schaffhausen Switzerland. As mechanical engineer Ernst Gysel was CEO from 1930 to 1947 of the Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works (SLM) at Winterthur (near Zurich).
In 1927 he visited with a group of SLM South Africa to meet some african train-specialists for sale discussions.
The two picture were made near Port Shepstone. It was a special train for the visitors from Switzerland. Ernst Gysel was from his time as student a excelent photographer and he made from this expedition to Sout Africa an album of 200 – 300 pictures which is in possession of my father.
Now, it would be very interested to know, how Errol Ashwell got these two pictures.
I have added two additional pictures made by Ernst Gysel, the first shows NG 11 nr. 54 and the other shows NG 13 nr. 60, which is used by the Schinznacher Baumschulbahn (where I am an active member).
With kind regards
yours respectfully Peter Gysel
Address
Peter Gysel
Pfalzstrasse 44
CH-5106 Veltheim
Switzerland
The locomotive is now at Sandstone Estates having been loaded at 7am on Tuesday morning, 7th February. The attached pictures from Lukas Nel refers. The steam trials are this Thursday, 8th February. Further update to follow.
RN329 - Weekly Report by Derick van Zyl. 26th January - 2nd February 2007
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Henry went to fetch the left hand point at Pandora for the new storage line and is busy getting the rails and the sleepers in line, so the building can start.
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| I built a gate for the new storage line and repaired the Lolly to fire up for the train trip on Thursday. We also drove the Scammel Tipper truck and collected earth to level the storage line. |
| We then went back down to Port Shepstone and collected the front and the back units and brought them down to the Sandstone Steam workshop. |
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| Henk drove the Front end loader to level the ground for the storage line. He also stencilled the wagons that stand behind the Waenhuis |
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| Petrus cleaned all the machines in the workshop and stripped the fence for the new storage line. |
| Oupa cleaned the loco’s and helped Petrus strip the fence. |
| The Sandstone Steam Team have all been very busy preparing the new storage line all week! |
RN330 - Clearing up some Angolan O & K identities
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We did say in the book that there was some query as to the identities of the 5 ex Angola O&K's so now we have solved one. As we strip and examine the others I am sure we will find more info. |
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----- Original Message ----- From: "John Nicholas Middleton" To: "Dave Richardson" Sent: Saturday, January 27, 2007 12:29 AM Subject: Re: 500mm O&K ex Angola at Sandstone Hi Dave I may have given you incorrect information before unfortunately. The lists I checked before were extracted from the OK lists by a prominent German enthusiast who is usually vey precise. However, I had subsequently, electronically re-searched the full OK lists myself using my knowledge of all the local spellings and possible mis-spellings and have found some more locos of which 10311 is indeed one - in fact there are five OK 0-4-0T. Cheers
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RN331 - What comes first - the colour or the steam?
The Sandstone Heritage Trust comes in for its fair share of criticism regarding the deficiencies of the loco restoration programme that we are involved in. Perhaps the most persistent of these complaints is the
question of colour. We do our very best to research the archives and try to find out what the locomotive looked liked during its first operational outing. In other words, if it was a Natal Government Railway's loco what colour was it?
If it was an original South African Railways & Harbours loco what colour was it?
Lukas Nel was particularly grateful to Dennis Moore who commented on the colour of the NG4 and we thought we would share it with you.
-----Original Message-----
From: lucasn
Sent: 30 January 2007 06:55 PM
To: Wilfred Mole
Subject: Bloem. Re: NG4 Colour - More
Sir,
Reading all the stories regarding the colour of NG4 I would like to ask you to send a special word of thanks to Dennis Moore for his message on the locomotive as he seems to be the only person who look behind the issue of R200.00 of paint and is thankful to get the opportunity to get a photo of a locomotive that was scrapped for the last frothy years without any hope to see a new life although in the wrong colour.
May we should stop rebuilding locos and paint all the scrap black for wonderful photos in the correct colour
Regards,
Lukas.A.Nel.
From: Moore, Dennis D
Sent: 30 January 2007 12:41
To:
Subject: RE: NG4 Colour - More
I think the blue livery looks fabulous
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but , to me , it's a minor consideration either way. What matters is that , thanks to you , Lucas & the team , here we are in 2007 , with a unique loco in steam , the likes of which I never envisaged as seeing in my lifetime.
South African Railways had a big splurge on locomotive restoration in the late 80s and early 90s. However , since the formation of the THF and with the new dispensation , the National Carrier's commitment to restoring its heritage has been modest ( albeit considerably more than many other railway administrations around the world.)
Fact remains that Sandstone has been the leading light in heritage restoration , especially on the steam locomotive side .................. and that is not to detract from the noble and well meaning efforts of some of the Groups ( eg Reefsteamers ) who certainly do what they can within resource constraints .
I am not an infrequent visitor to Sandstone as you know , and yet you now have a further four locos that you have restored that I haven't seen in action yet ! ( Peckett, Feldbahn , NG4 , O & K ) This surely is indicative of your tremendous commitment.
Bring it on , any colour you like ! :-)
Regards,
Dennis
RN332 - Saturday at Sandstone - First of the photos by Errol Ashwell
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Errol Ashwell, one of our great supporters and somebody who knows how to make a mean photograph, recently spent a day with us. He sent the following note and we are able to elaborate as follows:
Our little Feldbahn is one of the most charismatic 2-ft narrow gauge locomotives we have. It always looks good and above all it works well, very well. It is a testament to the quality of Lukas Nel's engineering talent that this absolutely derelict locomotive was pulled out of a muddy field somewhere in England, brought back to South Africa and restored to this condition. The following pictures tell their own story. There will be a substantial amount of publicity surrounding the NG4 in the weeks to come. It caused a great buzz of excitement and once again it performed beautifully over the weekend. Just to remind us of what it looked like, Errol sent us these photographs of it taken at Port Shepstone not that long ago. Finally, we have NGG 155 which is a gas convertor narrow gauge locomotive. Unfortunately, like so many of these loco restorations, this is causing some acrimony. Firstly, due to the fact the boiler was operated without water it is badly damaged and it cannot be repaired. Therefore we need to reboiler this loco if it is to be restored. Secondly, if we did restore, do we restore it as a gas convertor or as a conventional Garratt? The debate continues. |
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